So, what do these haunted sites have in common?
Quietness
To no surprise, the Quiet and Vibrancy scores for each of these locations indicate that they are situated in calm, remote areas with little or almost no noise or street activity nearby.
Scores fell within the upper bounds on the Quiet range and lower bounds on the Vibrancy range:
- Average Quiet score: 8.6 — very few sources of noise nearby
- Average Vibrancy score: 3.4 — quiet atmosphere most of the time
Our investigation confirms what most of us suspected already — the scariest haunts are often set in quiet neighborhoods.
While this knowledge proved useful, we wanted to learn why some haunted houses seem to attract more ghostly visitors than others. According to Andrew Nichols, the executive director of the American Institute for Parapsychology, there are two main reasons why some areas may be more haunted than others: history and geology.
History
A lot of old cities, particularly those in the South such as New Orleans and Asheville, have a great deal of history behind them — and reported more than their fair share of supernatural activity and ghost sightings.
The older a place becomes, the more likely it will be perceived as haunted. Since more time has passed, the likelihood of tragic events would increase. An area dating back centuries might have seen a number of atrocities.
Our Historic score measures the presence of heritage buildings in the area and the age of those buildings, though it is currently limited to a few select cities. Developing more access to this data will help us better understand the history behind neighborhoods.
Geology
Nichols goes on to say that, “areas that have unusual magnetic field properties are particularly conducive to ghosts and hauntings.” There are many factors that could lead to an unusual magnetic field, including electricity lines, underground water, iron ore deposits — and earthquakes.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, “large changes in atmospheric pressure caused by major storms like hurricanes have been shown to occasionally trigger what are known as ‘slow earthquakes’ which release energy over comparatively long periods of time.” Though the risk is minimal, these large low-pressure changes could potentially trigger a damaging earthquake.
As part of our location insights, we also provide climate risk information for the United States based on data from our partners Climate Check. Therefore, we analyzed some of the haunted locations’ climates to see if there is a connection between earthquakes, weather, and supernatural phenomena. Here is what we found:
Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast in Fall River, Massachusetts
The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina
LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans, Louisiana
Storm risk at each of these locations ranges from very high (64) to extreme (92-94), perhaps hinting at the weather’s influence on haunted areas and their correlation with thunderstorms.
Are there other spooky sites that you are curious about? Our 18 Location Scores can help you learn more about a specific location and its surrounding. To run your own investment thesis based on location characteristics you are interested in exploring, book a live demo with our team.
As for us? We’re perfectly content learning about these haunted houses from a distance.